Digital presence for a UK Fire & Rescue Service

Creating a new website is great, but will it work for the users? 

Avon Fire & Rescue Service’s new website has been a long time in the making, even before design and development happened.. given the previous old site was developed in 2012, we new we had to make some extensive changes.

We set out for a collaborative partnership, an agency who would understand users needs and accessibility and put them at the forefront above anything else – A partnership with a development team  Mixdformed who pride themselves on this.

We tend to talk about users as if it’s always external, but this new website had to also work just as hard for internal users as well, content managers, developers and editors removing a single point of failure with our previous website. We were looking for a CMS which would empower our staff to take more ownership but wouldn’t be overly complicated to use, to maintain constantly and keep pages up-to-date.  

Being Dyslexic I’m also really passionate about inclusivity and accessibility, and recognised an efficient website would help us achieve our goals in maximising our engagement with all areas of our communities regardless of background or disability.  

I was also keen for us to follow and adopt Government Design Principles. As a public sector organisation, we have a legal duty to make our website accessible to at least WCAG 2.1 AA standard but due to the launch date of  of 2.2, we then made extensive changes to bring the site up to 2.2 before launching.   

We kicked off the project with a Discovery phase and we worked in collaboration with our Mixd – the development team to produce internal stakeholder surveys, audience surveys, stakeholder workshops,  undertook user interviews, did site analysis, and usability tests.

We adopted a user-centred approach to design, ensuring the content on the site was designed to be understood quickly and easily and by as wide a range of people as possible.

 We used Inter as our digital typeface due to being designed for digital and with readability in mind, Navigation was improved by a more versatile ‘mega menu’ pattern which provided consistent navigations on every page of the site with clear routes to browse by topic or audience.  A place-based structure presented us with opportunities for surfacing regional/local content and enabling effective work with communities.  

From the insights we obtained from users and stakeholders, the site follows the following high-level design principles and Gov Service Standards:   

  • Focus on value: create content that authentically communicates the value of the Service to ensure the different way each audience looks for value is recognised.  
  • Update and review: review all content ensuring only the provision of up-to-date accurate information.  
  • Think ‘lean’ and prioritise: focus on simplicity and having less content which is simple to navigate.  
  • No user left behind: create content that authentically communicates the value to all users.  
  • Navigation: must be easy to navigate, creating shorter user journeys to direct users to content.  
  • Link between content: develop a content model to allow users to follow journeys between.  
  • Co-design: engage end-users in the design and implementation of the new site, as well as invite staff feedback on progress.  
  • Be open and transparent: encourage and actively seek feedback and comments from website users by enabling commenting on news stories and other relevant content.  
  • Create a welcoming environment for anyone looking for careers within the Fire & Rescue Service  
  • Better use of forms and designs following GDS recommendations

     

    Since launching I’ve also redesign the 404 page, by creating a custom 404 page gives the users some visual content in line with our brand to look at in the event of an error. Helping to reinforce, maintain the visual identity and tone of voice of our organisation, also by removing any technical jargon, such as “HTTP 404 Not Found” enhancing user experience and providing a better service for our website, due to reducing the frustration and confusion, particularly by injecting some humour and creativity.   

    By spending time on content design and changing the language by removing the mistake off the user, for example: “page not found” to “page no longer available” reduces anxiety around the user constantly re-typing or retrying the link to mitigate that it wasn’t them who forced the error. Instead of sending the user back to the home page, we also wanted to give them the opportunity to contact us if they believed they should be viewing a page that wasn’t there. This opens up valuable feedback loops to help improve our site or report any issues. Also helping us reduce bounce rates as a user is less likely to leave immediately if you keep them engaged, which is favourable for SEO. 

    Whilst Avon Fire & Rescue Service has launched their new website,  a digital product is always evolving and so continuous UX and UI improvements are being deployed to help us better serve our communities, this is driven by the continuous data we gather through GA4 and Hotjar to better understand users.  

    Try it out for yourself, or if you are in the service area, why not book a home fire safety visit. ?

    www.avonfire.gov.uk

    Work undertaken whilst employed at Avon Fire & Rescue Service

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